Seven Generations to Sustainability

Seven generations reflects the awareness that every decision we make here and now is made for seven generations into the future or with that generation's well-being at the forefront of our decisions.  It is more than an ideal, its a way of life.  The origins of this are found in Great Law of the Iroquois, though many tribes held this or something similar to be a truth in their way of living.  I grew up with a close affection to Native American beliefs, going to pow-wows, curiously looking at my father’s photos of my great grandmother who was Sauk/Fox.  

So now as I tackle a complex conservation issue (climate change on watersheds) I wonder, how close to this way of thinking is our new buzzword, sustainability.  Should we, every time we say sustainability, give homage to the painful history and wonderful resilience of these cultures?  Returning home last year from 2 years in rural Zambia and 13 years in the cityscape of L.A., I hoped that my heritage might fall into place.  The connection and rejuvenation I had hope to find, though this wasn’t as clear and easy as I had hoped.   What do you do when you are looking for something?  You search with your mind and hopefully your heart. 

I began this year with intentions to start this search.  First step: attending the Native Summit hosted by Nelsons Institute.  It was defining moment in my educational career that allowed me to step over many of the barriers that had been created in my world through re-adjusting to western society and the academia world.  It allowed me to challenge my beliefs, methods, and desire to be in a certain place.  I did not end up in a placement or job that allowed me to work one on one with tribal nations.  Instead, this search challenged me to find these connections in my current work and life.

At first glance this can seem completely unrelated to my placement, creating a climate change lens to a watershed scale wetland-planning project.  In all honesty, it took some time for me to realize the connection.  Planning for a changing environment can be a overwhelming.  What are we conserving?  What is resilient?  What models can we trust?  This, thankfully, is beginning to transform into a more positive energy. Climate change is an interwoven piece of the puzzle to sustainability, tackling one without the other will likely lead to little success.  Considering seven generations can help to understand the complexities of our changing environment.  That being said, everyone's environmental ethic is at a different place and understanding boundaries while weaving in these important lessons is crucial.  

Team Work to See You Through the Bog

Throughout the curriculum in the EC program, it was emphasized that conservation is iterative and adaptive planning is crucial. Of course we understand this and face it experience after experience.  Nonetheless, I was reminded again just how true it is.

I started my climate change analysis taking a very direct approach to each function WAWFA is assessing.  After a couple of conservations on the direction of my final product, this took a slightly different route with more emphasis on increasing climate change literature.  This, for me, was a bit more objective and and I found myself running in circles with it, occasionally getting pulled in another direction, just to end up back at that original circle.   Fortunately, the WAWFA core team was able to meet as a group to uncover what really is useful for the team at this point.  

We have all decided through the process that more emphasis on my original direction will be more useful.  What is frustrating is the feeling of lost time.  What is important to remember is that the process is essential to creating meaningful work, however frustrating it could be.  Though much of my research is still viable potential limits do exists now in the amount of analysis I will be able to complete in the final month and a half of my contract.

This has been a wonderful learning lesson in approaching collaboration with a diverse team when everyone is stretched too thin.  With more direction now, I am excited to put the research I have done into a meaningful deliverable for the team.

My time, of course was not idle.  I have been actively working with our field team to get this portion of the project up and running.  According to our grant calendar, we are a little bit behind schedule, though a great amount of progress has been realized in the past few weeks.

With some wonderful guidance from Joanne Kline (a fellow WAWFA core team member and the best mentor one could have), we created a database in Access that will house all of our fieldwork data.  This was a multifaceted process and the database took many drafts as we uncovered the complexity of the relationships of our data.  Just last week our data mastermind at TNC, John Wagner, was able to make some finishing changes to create a very dynamic and meaningful database.   

To date we have had three field days all in our Milwaukee Basin focus areas.  The first was with six members of the team and had the sole intention of clarifying the field form and calibrating our methods.   Many beneficial adjustments were made after this first day and allowed Joanne and I to go a bit deeper into our assessment areas this past week.  While it is still a little slow going as we uncover more questions, we are all feeling momentum at this point.  As Joanne gracefully pointed out,  “the worst field day is better than the best office day.”  This couldn’t be truer and I hope to tap into these energies as I take on the next two weeks of research and writing.